Shas-a-bration! Learning it all in 1 place, on 1 day

Buckle your seatbelts! Jewish men from as near as Woodmere and as distant as Israel and England are coming together to complete the entire Shas — all 2,711 dafim (pages) — in one day, in one place.

The goal of the Shas-a-thon is to accrue zechut (merit) through intensive learning, raise money for A TIME, an organization that assists Jewish couples struggling with reproductive health issues and infertility, and recall the 1930s birthday gift of a one-day Shas siyum (completion) by the students of Daf Yomi study regime founder, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, zt”l.

At this Shas-a-thon, each of 274 individual lomdim (Torah learners) or chevrutot (pair of learners) will complete a designated section of the Gemara, up to 10 blatt (both sides of a page). Participants have committed to learn their pages, including Rashi and other meforshim (commentators) so they are prepared to review it at the Shas-a-thon. They were also asked to try to raise a minimum of $1,800.

The Shas-a-thon, a Torah spin on the fundraising of Bike- Walk- and other marathons, will convene on Sunday, Feb. 16 (16 of Adar I), at the Ocean Place Resort in Long Branch, NJ. The siyum will be livestreamed.

Mordechai Stern and Gary Greenberg, members of Congregation Aish Kodesh of Woodmere, are participating as lomdim chevrutot.

“It’s an opportunity to participate in something so beautiful, how can I say no?” said Stern. “To raise money for a good cause while learning, how much better can it get?”

Greenberg said he was enlisted as a chavruta by Stern, with whom he studied Daf Yomi for a number of years. “I hope I have the stamina to do all eight dafim that we signed up for on marathon day!”

The founders of A TIME, director of member services Brany Rosen, and her husband Rabbi Shaul Rosen, CEO, struggled with infertility as a young couple.

“There was nothing out there,” said Brany. “When we needed a new doctor there was no one to call. We made a promise that if we would have a baby we would create some kind of number to call or resource for anything related to fertility.” The Rosens’ oldest son is now 21.

When she held her son for the first time in the hospital, her husband reminded her that they had made a promise. She recalled that when she got home, the first time she lit candles for Shabbat, she “cried for everyone out there who still doesn’t have this joy.”

“I had to start from the darkness,” Brany recalled. “It was so not accepted to speak about this; it was scary.”

Although the Shas-a-thon is a first time ever fund raising effort, it recalls a unique birthday present for the Daf Yomi founder probably in 1930. Rabbi Shapiro didn’t have any children; when students wanted to do something for his birthday, he suggested finishing the Shas in one day.

“Learning is always a zechus for anything,” said Rabbi Stern. He pointed out that the last commandment in the Torah is to write a complete Torah and the first commandment is to have children.

All slots of lomdim at the Shas-a-thon are filled, but additional sponsors are needed. The goal is to provide merit (zechut) and strength (chizuk) to the “thousands of couples yearning for a child of their own.”

Brany said that 20 years ago, she and two other women determined to launch an organization and put their names to it to “destroy the shame” of infertility. She and the other women were determined to obtain the imprimatur of a major respected Torah authority and waited outside Yeshiva Torah Vodaas for Rav Avraham Pam, zt”l, when he was scheduled to deliver his weekly lecture. Men flowed in to the study hall in anticipation.

When the venerable rabbi approached, two students assisting him said that he would speak to the women right after the shiur. Rav Pam noted their earnestness and said, “No, now,” even as they stood by the open door seeing the men filling the bais midrash standing in respect for the rav.

“We told our stories, that there was nobody for us,” recounted Brany. They outlined their needs for medical referrals, a social support system, and a helpline.

Later needs pinpointed by the organizers focused on more practical insurance coverage, legislation, fertility treatments, and that they wanted rabbanim to be familiar with the Jewish legal aspects of fertility and doctors to be familiar with halacha as well. Those goals remain the focus of A TIME’s efforts now.

“You are looking at a desk where so many tears have been shed by men and women” on issues of fertility, she quoted Rav Pam. “Anything you need, I am behind you.” And he gave his bracha (blessing). He also called Rabbi Chaim Kraus, who was then providing his rabbinic supervision in Brooklyn’s Genesis lab.

Since then, the organization has grown and helps men and women with many aspects of fertility, with advocacy, education, guidance, research and support, including medical referrals, a 24 hour helpline, online forums, and insurance information.

They also have programs for girls who can’t have children and Brany has personally made shidduchim between singles who couldn’t have children. She is currently trying to arrange an adoption for a pair of twins soon to be born.

She helped fight to change the law for insurance coverage for infertility treatments 15 years ago, when women marched down Fifth Avenue with empty baby carriages to bring attention to their plight.

“We do what we can to make the journey quicker and easier if possible,” she said. “As hard as it is, every time a baby is born it makes it easier, every neshama in the world…”

For more information visit shasathon.org